JonCarleton

OK...same image as a png instead of jpg. Reprocessed in PI.

To be clear, the uploaded image displayed by this website (and others) appears with magenta stars...yes. The original .fits file on my local machine does NOT have magenta stars. The .jpg on my local machine that I uploaded here does NOT have magenta stars. There is apparently a problem with the conversion for web display. Something about my .jpg is not converted properly. I have heard others complain about this issue on other sites, and not just Linux/UNIX users. But, it is not apparently a global problem. I do intend to solve it one way or the other .

I only own one Windows machine. I use it ONLY for Pole Master and iPolar (because those two require Windows), then it goes back in the closet. And yes, I am careful to be mindful of sRGB in my exports. I have been doing the file conversion to jpg in GIMP, but perhaps I will try something else.

I use PI, but they aren't magenta on my monitor. I did a monitor calibration to try and correct it, but it didn't help. Perhaps I need to use a different tool to create the jpg....or just upload a tiff instead. Could be something in the fits conversion.

I keep trying. Still not what I want, but better than last attempt. 3 hours with a Radian Raptor and QHY183M one-shot. I have to say what I see after upload is a poor copy of the .jpg I see on my local monitor screen. At least the playing field is level, we all have that, to deal with I feel sure.

Thanks Fozzy, I got an email about that a bit ago. Good night to image, so I suppose I'll test it.

I notice a lot of folks with issues using the PI4 as a hotspot and not getting NTP. One can get fairly inexpensive ($10 US) USB GPS devices on eBay and other sources. You get a rock solid time standard along with LAT/LON. That is what I use when I go to remote sites. Just search "GLONASS GPS RECEIVER USB." They all say "Windows Support" but there is plenty of software for Linux/Pi that works very well. I use a VK-172 (read as: cheap!) and it works fine. You will have to install some software and write a script to read the location and time, then set it per your needs. Once that's done, it just works, forever. ---->>>>>>> EDIT: OK, apparently I did it the hard way a few years ago. There is now INDI support for a great many of these devices. https://indilib.org/devices/auxiliary/gps.html There is also a device compatibility page that is worth a look as some of the USB GPS devices are better than others.

I prefer to just add the software I want to a ubuntu distro. That method has served me well since the Pi's have been around. They are my go-to mount computers. I know ubuntu is going to be around and is rock solid on a Pi 3, 4 or 5. I'm going to need INDI drivers for whatever imaging platform I need, so that download is a given. I have used Siril on a Pi4 and OrangePi5 with good result, though I did have to compile Siril on the OrangePi5. At least the OrangePi Ubuntu made it easy to find the library requirements for the compile. I can also run CCDciel or Ekos, ASTAP, GIMP with little effort. None of the ARM SBC's are going to run PixInsight anytime soon, so that isn't a factor. That said, I have found in the past some really nuggets of genius in unusual places by "just trying new things." If you never try, to never find those.

Interesting. I knew there was a community out there for the platform, but I didn't suspect that it was mostly Windows-based. I've never used ASCOM and came to CdC and CCDciel from KStars. I prefer the platform to KStars because it seems to run better on my hardware. I typically run a Pi4 with the drivers on each setup and the imaging/guiding/planetarium inside on the desktop. Ubuntu as the common OS. Thank you for your replies!

I have been using CCDciel and SkyChart (CarteduCiel) on raspberry pi's for a few years now. I realize that this software set doesn't have the following of KStars/Ekos, but wondered if was still represented here in this group. For me, at least, it works well, is simple to demonstrate and makes a good showing at star parties and the like. This software set relies on INDIserver and the INDI drivers, under Linux or ASCOM drivers under Windows. Again, much the same as KStars/Ekos.

Interesting. I use Ubuntu on my Pi4's and just added the PPA for PhD2 from the PHD website: https://launchpad.net/~pch/+archive/ubuntu/phd2 Then I just use: sudo apt install phd2 But again, that is Ubuntu. I've been using Ubuntu on Pi's for 3 years now with excellent results.

This is NGC7331 with a 1200mm X 10" reflector using a ASI178mc, 70x60sec subs. Processed with Siril, PixInsight, and GIMP .

This is the Question Mark Nebula, shot with a Radian Raptor and QHY183C, 600x120 second subs. Processed with ASTAP (grading), Siril (stacking), PixInsight (general processing) and GIMP (finishing, scaling and file type exports).

I have been using PI4's for a couple of years to run all my rigs. During this time, I have tried all sorts of combinations of VNC, ssh -Y, and any other option I could find. What I find that works best is to run ONLY indiserver with the drivers on the pi4 on the mount with the mount pi4 on the local network via WiFi (or ethernet cable). Then I run the imaging software, EKOS with KStars or CCDciel with CarteDuCiel (I prefer the latter), on a desktop inside or a laptop. On the same local network, of course. The only exception to this setup is that I have found that on a mount with which it is dificult to get excellent guiding, I install PHD2 on the mount pi4 and run PHD2 via ssh -Y on the imaging desktop/laptop. I speculate that in troublesome mounts, even the slightest networking delay between PHD2 and the guide pulse makes a difference. Since there is a small delay in transferring the guide image to the software over the network, removing that delay can tame a troublesome mount. This setup has the added advantage of removing the need to transfer the files from the mount Pi4, as they are transferred at time of capture. This also means that having a large amount of storage for the image files on the mount pi is no longer necessary. Ekos will happily start and operate a remote indiserver instance. For CCDciel, you may either SSH into the mount pi and start indiserver or use a free utility called IndiStarter. I do run remote from time to time. When away from the home network, I bring along a spare WiFi router configured with the same spec as my home network. I typically just run a bit of ethernet cable to the wifi router from the laptop. This way, nothing has to change on the mount pi.....almost. If you do not have a means to connect to the Internet when remote, you =MUST= SSH onto the mount pi and set the correct time/date. This is, of course, unnecessary if you have a GPS device on your setup that provides time to the mount pi. I do not. That said, without a GPS device, one has to make sure the imaging software knows the Lat/Lon/Alt of your remote location. Bad things happen if the time/date is wrong on the mount pi or the location is wrong on the imaging software. I always verify the mount pi has the proper date/time and the imaging software has the proper location when operating at a remote site, even if I am using a GPS device as a time and location source. This is not necessary for most home setups as your location is fixed and presumably setup when you installed the imaging software and the standard setup for most pi operating systems is to go in search of a network time server the moment a network connection is operational.

I bought a Dwarf II when they first came out and ended up not doing much with it, as using it on a phone was tedious for me and I didn't have a big enough tablet to make much improvement. One day, for grins, I tried putting Android on a Raspberry Pi4, then loading the Dwarf II software. Eureka! Now I could use the little contraption on a 1080P HDMI screen. For me, this was a game changer. It has limitations, and you won't get "pixel-peeper-proof" images, but it isn't a bad little device if you work within its limits. Here is the Orion Nebula. 1200x10 second subs over 2 nights. Processed with ASTAP(grading), Siril (stacking), PixInsight (general processing) and GIMP (finishing, sizing and type conversions).